How Jehovah's Witnesses Helped Kill Proposition 8

[Brother_Bliss]

How Jehovah's Witnesses helped kill Prop 8

By Joel P. Engardio on 8/6/2010

Mormons took a lot of abuse for helping pass Proposition 8 in California, where 52% of voters banned the right of gay couples to marry in 2008. But will anyone thank Jehovah's Witnesses for their role in getting the law declared unconstitutional?

One of the biggest outcries over Prop 8 was that the fundamental rights of a minority group could be taken away by popular vote — which isn't supposed to happen in America, land of the free.

Vaughn Walker, the federal judge who struck down Prop 8 this week, boldly said it "was premised on the belief that same-sex couples simply are not as good as opposite-sex couples." He also minced no words with the electorate: "That the majority of California voters supported Proposition 8 is irrelevant."

This is where Jehovah's Witnesses come in. On Page 116 of Judge Walker's ruling, he cites a 1943 Supreme Court case where the high court did a rare reversal of itself, acknowledging a mistake it made in a Jehovah's Witness case three years earlier. What happened between 1940 and 1943 to Jehovah's Witnesses gave Judge Walker in 2010 his most potent precedent to show that voter will does not trump the protection of minority rights.

Read more at USAToday.com

[marcello]

"But will anyone thank Jehovah's Witnesses for their role in getting the law declared unconstitutional?"

but, then again,.... one may ask,.."do we want to be thanked for our role in (specifically) getting Prop. 8 declared unconstitutional?" I don't think so,.. Joel....but we would be pleased to accept thanks for setting many precedent's that protect true constitutional rights of any person or group.

[marcello]

Glad to see in the USA Today article Joel E. states the following also:

"While we can thank Jehovah's Witnesses for this precedent that aims to prevent tyranny of the majority, it should be noted they don't like gay marriage. They consider it sin and aren't afraid to say so. But not one devoted Jehovah's Witness voted for or supported Prop 8. Jehovah's Witnesses are apolitical. Rather than forcing their beliefs through legislation, they prefer to find converts by sharing a message."

I'm sure his Witness mother wishes he wasn't writing about us from the outside,..but in a strange way, I believe he is helping us.

[Brother_Bliss]

I'm sure his Witness mother wishes he wasn't writing about us from the outside,..but in a strange way, I believe he is helping us.

He's an odd one. His Knocking Documentary is awesome. I have the full version in my library.

It's like we have a gay advocate